Dr Eugene's blogs

It was a busy Clinic day in the Outpatient unit. All adult patients were required to wear a face mask before entering the Clinic. Yet, some patients came in without masks. Usually, we asked those patients without a mask to get one before they could be attended to. On this day, an elderly patient walked into the consulting room without a mask. Instead of asking him to go get a mask, I gave him a spare mask that has not been used. The patient thanked me and we began the consultation. I was putting down some notes in the patient folder when he coughed. I looked up and saw that this elderly patient had lowered the mask to his chin and was coughing into his bare hands. What! ‘What is the essence of having a mask on, if you are going to remove it to cough’, I wondered. I was so upset that I kept quiet for some seconds to regain my composure. He was an elderly patient, what can I say to him! Each time I remember that incident, I do pause to think. The patient should not bear all the blame for

In January of 2020, I started seeing news of a novel illness in China. At that time, I didn't give it much attention because of the then ongoing impeachment trial of Donald Trump. One of my favourite pastimes is following up on current news and topical issues. So, it was towards the end of the impeachment trial that the news of this new infectious disease in China started picking steam in the traditional and social media. The possibility of a new transmissible infection reaching the shores of Africa, for me, was a dreadful thing to think about because it brings back the memories of the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa. As a practicing health care worker in Nigeria, I remember how it felt seeing febrile patients with history of travel to regions with confirmed Ebola cases. The last thing I wanted was to relive that experience. Hence, out of fear, anxiety and much trepidation, I closely followed every key event related to this novel viral illness that later came to be named COVID-19

Novel Coronavirus. It’s a global pandemic ravaging the world. It started in December, 2019 in a city named Wuhan in China, and then the disease spreads rapidly across the globe. In order to avoid discrimination, the World Health Organization (WHO) named it Coronavirus Disease 2019, shortened as COVID-19. The disease is caused by a virus named SARS-CoV2. Currently, according to the worldometers.info (March 24, 2020, 21:30 GMT), total cases of Coronavirus worldwide is 417,663. Total deaths stand at 18,605, while the number of persons who have recovered is put at 108,312. The disease has spread to Nigeria. The index case (first case) in Nigeria was a 44-year-old Italian man who was diagnosed of COVID-19 on the 27 th of February, 2020. Since then, the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria has risen to 44 (latest tally released by ncdc.gov.ng as at 6:15pm, 24 th March, 2020). COVID-19 is a viral infection and viruses, unlike bacteria and fungi, are notoriously difficult to

One man lived in the heart of a very busy city. One day, he woke up and realized something has changed. His neighbours were gone. His street, the busy roads, and the market places were all empty. He could not find a soul. He was dreadfully alone. As he walked along looking for any sign of life, he heard a sound from afar. When he drew closer to the sound, he could hear people talking. 'Yes, yes, y es!' He ran towards the sound. It was close to a river. The sound was coming from a boat. As he drew nearer, he saw the boat moving away. He shouted, 'Wait! Wait! Wait!' The engine of the speed boat drowned his scream. The boat left and this man was all alone. He turned in despair and walked home alone. Then, he woke up. It was a dream, a nightmare. This guy has been a loner. Even though, he lived in a busy city and knew a number of persons, he lived alone and kept to his own business. He had no friends; no one to notice when he gets missing. He could have died very much a